Between Two Promises Read Online Free Page A

and don’t ever come down.”
    “No, Daniel….”
    “Aren’t you satisfied with what you got? The cabin? The woods? Me?”
    “I am, Daniel, I am. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Aiden eased off. Perhaps he should furnish Daniel more time. They had only been boyfriends for barely three months. Give him time. Time to acclimate. Don’t push him. Or he really might leave.
    Dejected and tired, Aiden slumped to his haunches and poked at the pine-needle-covered ground with a twig. A few minutes later, Daniel’s strong hand pressed on his shoulder.
    “Don’t just sit there and sulk,” Daniel said, his tone genial. “Make yourself useful and help me collect some firewood.”
    Night brought chilly breezes off the mountain peaks into the basin, so they put extra effort into searching for the highest quality wood for burning. They gathered several bushels of white pine and formed a fire teepee in the fire pit. After a supper of day-old pot roast baked in half-moon pies, a technique Aiden had learned by watching Daniel’s mother prepare lunch with leftovers, they lit the kindling, and soon a crackling fire illuminated the small parcel of woods next to their tent.
    Staring into the flames while they sat on a fallen log, Aiden confronted a strange gloominess. The woods sometimes brought out pestering anxieties, even when he was with Daniel. Why did Daniel refuse to take him back home to Illinois? They couldn’t possibly spend their entire lives together dodging family… dodging the entire world. When would they stop? Yet Aiden harbored worries of his own. Many uncertainties lurked in Illinois. Some that might keep Daniel from wanting to return to Montana. From wanting to return to him.
    He had always suspected Daniel had been tempted to stay in Henry during his latest trip home, soon after their chance meeting in Glacier National Park. Once he acknowledged that he and Aiden were meant to be together, Daniel had returned to break off his engagement to his fiancée, Tara Hostetler. Daniel had proposed to Tara when Aiden still lived in Henry, to screen his true feelings. While Daniel was gone, Aiden, holed up at an extended-stay motel in Whitefish, had spent his days fearing Daniel might never return.
    Yet the both of them going back to Illinois might be the milestone their relationship needed. Unfinished issues demanded resolving. For their relationship to evolve, both he and Daniel needed to cauterize those loose ends. But mostly, he wanted to see the Schrocks again. He always did think of them as his second family. He was touched that Mark had taken special care to invite him to his wedding.
    Aiden watched Daniel stoke the fire with a stick. Sparks sputtered and scattered through the conifer branches before disappearing into the black sky. He leaned into Daniel. Warmth from Daniel’s body, from the campfire, and from the fire that burned within him mocked the mountain chill. He rested his hand on Daniel’s knee. Almost subconsciously, he reached for Daniel through his hiking pants and held on. Daniel did not stir from his intimate touch or try to remove his hand. Instead, he held Aiden closer and tighter. Out in the woods, that was his way.
    Slowly, Aiden began to massage Daniel with his fingertips, over the nylon fabric, until he sensed they were both lulled into an almost trance-like calm.
    “That’s nice,” Daniel whispered.
    Aiden’s heart began to beat erratically and burn inside his chest. His breathing came in short gasps.
    Daniel’s soft smile faded. He gripped Aiden’s shoulders and stared at him. Flames reflected in his dark eyes. His beard tightened as the shadows deepened around his mouth.
    “Let’s go into the tent,” he said.
    A tingle shot through Aiden’s body. “Yeah,” he said. “Okay.”
    Daniel was rather inexperienced with making love to a man, but discovering what he preferred had not taken long. Aiden always submitted to his touch, his tongue, his kisses exploring